The core self

I think it will be useful to work our way outwards, during this essay, from the unitary, the private, the compartmentalised to the multiple, the public and the conglomerated. In other words from the Self, to the community. Whilst many paradoxes are evident in online identity and online community I hope to demonstrate that each can be described by Weinberger's small pieces loosely joined phrase.

Let us take the core self as the starting point. If that starting point is a unitary self reflecting inwards, then this core self would be your sense of self. Who you think you are. Your internal view. The core self is introspectective, self-referential, internalised, intrinsic. In other words the private aspects of identity. The boundaries for the core self might be defined by Personality. Without getting distracted by a debate about what degree personality is/is not mutable (i.e. whether or not I am an exponent of behaviourism) I would like to suggest that the core self IS the personality. 'Personality' being simply defined as "the patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion unique to an individual" - the expression of the unique essence of self. It is through the filter of personality which we interact with ourselves, and the environment (others).

[tag: identity]